


The Remainder of Days

by Rueitae



Series: Rue's Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Farmer Lance (Voltron), Forced to Watch, Forest Spirit Pidge, Immortality, Love Confessions, Temporary Character Death, True Love, True Love's Kiss, goddess allura, in spirit it is, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:33:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23310193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rueitae/pseuds/Rueitae
Summary: Pidge is a Guardian spirit. Lance is a mortal farmer, neighbor and friend to the Great Forest. If only their time together wasn't cut so short.
Relationships: Allura & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Series: Rue's Bad Things Happen Bingo [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668730
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	The Remainder of Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnchoredTether](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnchoredTether/gifts).



> This prompt for this was 'Forced to Watch' requested for Ivy! I hope you enjoy some good old fantasy AU!

Pidge hums as she picks the third petal off an Everlight flower. It's bright green stem and pale blue petals pleasing to her immortal eye more than most at the moment. Her feet sway lazily in the air, her stomach lying in perfect balance with the thick tree limb of the Great Forest Oak.

"He loves me," she smiles happily, "he loves me not," she scowls, anxious as another petal magically grows back before her eyes. Playing this silly mortal game both delights her and sets her on edge. She knows it isn't real fortune-telling, not when she's well aware of what real magic looks like and  _ uses _ magic herself on a daily basis to tend to the Great Forest. But a small, childish part of her heart wants to know, for she has not the courage nor the right words to ask him.

She pinches the remaining petal, biting her lip and wondering if it will grow back again - she hopes it doesn't. "He loves me," she says aloud.

The petal grows back.

Pidge now hopes it  _ will _ grow back.

"He loves me not." she pulls on the petal, on the brink of tearing it off as she'd done all the others.

A soft, mystical breeze interrupts her. Perking up as the Oak's children float daintily to the ground, she sets the flower aside in a knothole and with a flutter of her wings, glides down to the forest floor to greet her boss, guest, and friend.

"Hey, Allura!" she chirps, balancing on the balls of her feet, hands clasped behind her back. A radiant smile matches the joy in her heart.

The goddess of the world materializes in a pink mist, gracefully stepping among the grass from the air. Her robes of white and blue drape elegantly around her tall body, a large sash of pink around her waist. She smiles softly in greeting, "Good morning, Pidge. How are you doing?"

"Great!" Pidge exclaims, because she certainly is now. Allura is rarely able to walk among the trees with her duties to the planet as a whole. "It's really good to see you. What brings you to the Forest?"

The goddess's smile falls and so too does Pidge's. She should have known this wasn't simply a social visit.

"I'm afraid I come with a warning. Haggar has returned."

A chill runs down Pidge's spine. At the creation of the planet, Haggar had vied for dominance, wishing to use the gift of life that had been granted to this world as a boost to her own power. Pidge had been born after, charged with tending to the flora as her peers tended to the sky, the earth, and the ocean.

In the beginning, the stench and thickness of Haggar's will lingered. Pidge hates to think what it would be like to face her full might.

"Just like that?" Pidge says, utterly disheartened. "No warning just... she's back?" Pidge bites her lip. "Allura, I'm not ready for something like this."

"And I hope you never have to," Allura assures her. "I've come to bolster your wards. At the very least I want to make sure the Great Forest is safe. The Heart of the Great Oak cannot fall into her hands."

Pidge nods, determined to protect the very Heart of the planet. "I swear I'll protect it with my life. Just..." her heart skips a beat, thinking about what she'll miss if she does die, "I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spare you."

"Oh, Pidge," Allura says in empathy. In an instant, the goddess has the guardian spirit wrapped in a warm hug, like a thick blanket that could ward off any evil. "I do not want to lose you. Don’t worry, I will come for you."

What started off as a wonderful day is no longer. Pidge clings to Allura tightly, not at all looking forward to the trying times to come.

~~~~~

Pidge needs to be cheered up, so once Allura has finished and gone, she goes to the one person she knows can provide that without fail.

A farm meets the edge of the Great Forest, a place Pidge frequents more and more with each passing year. The youngest son of farmers, Lance has made this old place his own, determined to prove himself to his family that he can indeed care for himself.

That was five years ago.

Lance has more than proven himself. The gentle way he tends to the animals, sweet talking nonsense with them and praises their every accomplishment as if they were his children, and the way he nurtures the crops, singing to them and bribing them with more fertilizer in his own humorous way makes her heart flutter with joy - even the crops themselves sing his praises back to her. Never has he failed to make her happy.

In the heat of the midday she finds him chopping firewood, all from old trees long past their prime. With each swing of an ax, Pidge sees the layers of sweat seeping from his body, every flexing muscle and toned abdomen each time he sucks in a breath. Like all the other times she's visited him unannounced, she pauses at the treeline to simply marvel, full of guilt at her gawking yet unable to look away - as if mesmerized by a spell. 

Pidge finds that the more his words and actions win her heart, the more handsome he seems.

He buries the ax into the ground to take a break, wiping the sweat from his brow. Stretching over backwards, hands on his hips, Pidge almost can't stand it as he practically thrusts forward.

The heat in her cheeks has nothing to do with the warmth of the sun.

Chastising herself for oogling - at a friend and mortal at that! - Pidge flies up the tree nearest to where Lance works, securing her legs on the closest limb and swings upside down behind him.

"Break time?" she asks brightly.

Lance screams. And jumps. And falls flat on his butt.

"Pidge!" he yelps, turning around to face her. When he meets her gaze, he sighs and flops down onto the grass. "Please don't scare me like that again."

Pidge chuckles, righting herself and flying down to sit beside him. She curls her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Sorry, you're really cute when you're flustered."

Instantly she regrets saying such a thing. Cute? The last thing she needs is for him to catch on how much she likes him! A forest guardian and a mortal could not have any sort of happy ending together.

His mouth gapes, and for a moment Pidge is afraid he will call her out on her misstep.

But he simply chuckles and smirks. "One of these days I'll get the jump on  _ you _ , immortal Guardian or not."

"Then you'll be here  _ forever _ ," Pidge teases. "I think the flora would like that."

Lance raises an eyebrow. "And how would you know that?" He pauses, before realization dawns on his face. "Oh. That's right. I keep forgetting you actually talk to them." Standing, he pats the dust off his pants. "Besides, I don't think I'd want to live forever."

It hurts to hear though she already knew it to be true. "It's not so bad," she shrugs. "The forest keeps me busy."

"That's the thing," Lance says as he stretches once more. "I wouldn't have anything to do, no divine mission. I’d be bored.”

“Even if you had good company?” Pidge dares to ask, waiting on his answer with baited breath.

Lance fumbles, catch off guard at the question. “Maybe if it was someone I really cared about... like my family,” he says quickly, pointedly looking away, “I know I complain about my siblings a lot but I love them. That’s why I want to prove I can run the farm one day. The thought of being with them again, to be able to feel the ocean breeze again,” he sighs in contentment, a love for the ocean he’s spoken of many times, “it makes me work hard."

An uneasy chill runs down her spine. "You... plan to return to your family?"

Lance nods, though he frowns while doing so. "Yeah... I've put a solid five years into this place and it's  _ thriving, _ ” he says, gesturing all around them. “It should be easy to find someone who will buy it and take over in this condition..." he glances her way but briefly before finding his ax far more interesting. "Don't worry, I'll make sure it's someone who will show the utmost respect to the Forest."

That's not what I'm sad about, Pidge wants to tell him. I want  _ you _ .

"Oh," she says instead, a bad day becoming so much worse, even in a part of her life that usually guarantees her joy. Now even that will come to an end. Though he's only been around for a blip of her existence, it's been one of the happiest times she's had.

"What will you do when you return h-home?" she wonders.

Lance shrugs halfheartedly. "I'm not sure. Work I bet, and maybe I'll find a nice girl who wants to be a farmer's wife. We'll get married and raise children. It'll be nice," he says with a firm nod, followed by a wistful smile. "I'll get to sweep her off her feet and tell her how beautiful and amazing she is every day."

Pidge loves that image and wishes she was that girl.

"That sounds... nice," she offers instead.

"Probably not until winter," he quickly amends. "There's still lots to do this spring, and I want to get the harvest this year. If it's a good one, then I'll have plenty to sway potential buyers."

And it will be a good year, because the crops are as smitten with Lance as she is.

If only she'd picked that last petal, then perhaps she'd have saved herself from such heartache.

"I'm... glad you'll be around until then. I have been wanting to show you more of the Forest,” she says far more bashfully than she normally feels. “Perhaps this summer the yield can spare you a few days?"

Lance smiles softly, making her chest all a flutter that the smile is for  _ her _ . "I'd like that very much," he says.

The prospect of spending time with Lance eases the pain in her heart, the fact that he  _ wants _ to spend time with her makes her want to shout for joy to the heavens.

But neither manifests itself in her soul.

A chilling presence invades like a locust swarm, threatening to suck the very life from her. Though the day is bright and sunny, birds chirping - the flora trembles and the grass screams for help beneath her feet. Her nostrils flare and hot cinders dance in her peripheral vision.

Haggar.

Lance gasps, but doesn't know, not truly, how much danger the two of them are in. "The barn!" he says fearfully. "Kaltenecker is resting there! I - I gotta go Pidge!"

"Lance, no!" Pidge screams. Though the bushfires that revitalize the forest floor are one of her greatest strengths, flame itself is one of her greatest weaknesses. She can't go in that barn - set ablaze so quickly - how can he not realize this isn't natural!

This is a trap, she realizes with dread.

"Of course it is a trap," a soulless voice tells her from behind. Pidge does not need to turn to know it is Haggar. "Mortals should stay out of our business."

"Put it out," Pidge demands, fists clenched in rage...and shaking from fear. "He won't survive magical fumes. You said he doesn't belong in our affairs - he should not suffer for it!"

"He will die regardless if it is now or after I have absorbed the life force of the Goddess and her Guardians," Haggar says cruelly, almost flippantly.

Tears refuse to come though Pidge wants nothing more than to cry. She bites her lip. "I won't let you have him or this planet!" she declares. It matters not if she dies, Allura can create a new Guardian for the Forest. She needs to save Lance.

She unfurls her wings and leaps into the air... only to be unable to move a single muscle.

How had Haggar gotten this powerful? Who had helped her escape her divine prison?

"The heat of the fire creates a beautiful shimmer in the air," Haggar observes calmly. "The embers are far more elegant than raindrops. I think I will replace them."

Kaltenecker scampers out of the barn unharmed. Pidge tries to call Lance's name, but it is stuck in her throat and she is unable to even simulate mortal breath. All she can do is watch as the wooden structure burns, Lance inside, trying desperately to save the animals and unknowing that Haggar will make sure he cannot leave. A human's life force is too tempting a treat for the witch.

She cannot even cry. Pidge knew that one day she would have to say goodbye to Lance, even before he announced his intention to move back home. He would die, and she would live on until the world itself dies.

Just not like this. Not at the hands of the one who would destroy the world, taking its lifeblood before venturing to leech off another innocent planet.

The walls of the barn cave in and Pidge's heart feels as though it will burst.

"Remove the barrier to the Heart," Haggar demands. In one snap of the fingers, Pidge is released.

The Heart is the lifeblood of this world, her reason for being a Guardian, but Pidge can't bring herself to care about it right now.

"Lance!" she shrieks, her vision clouded. Smoke from the fire irritates her eyes, but is cleansed quickly by the tears that run down her face. Not even flying, she scrambles from her hands and knees, seeking only the one mortal that holds  _ her _ heart.

"Insolent child," Haggar growls.

Pidge cares only to run, barely registering a high pitched screech from Haggar and feeling the warmth in her soul that is Allura's magic. On her way, she begs the trees and the crops and the flowers to help her. Trees on the edge of the forest groan and hundreds of roots break the surface. Each one does its part to remove the burning piles of wood that used to be the barn.

By the time Pidge reaches the smoldering ruins, there is only Lance.

She slides to her knees, cradling his face. His body is charred, welts larger than sunflowers with blood oozing out over his skin.

"Lance," she whispers, choking on sobs.

He draws no breath.

"N-no," she cries. "It's not f-fair. Your family - they don't know what an amazing job you did here, the soul you poured into this land, the people you touched," she hiccups. "The people who love you."

"Pidge, I am so sorry."

She looks up to see Allura, standing over her.

Pidge gulps. "Is she...?"

"Gone. For good this time," Allura confirms, though she wears a shameful face, something Pidge has never seen. "I would not have been able to do so without a distraction."

Pidge cries, hunched over into Lance's unmoving chest. "He was such a good person, Allura. He took good care of this place, always respected the Forest. He was always happy to see me," she says with a hitch in her voice.

"He was my friend, a  _ real _ friend," she continues. "I love him."

Allura kneels and takes Pidge into her arms. The hold grounds Pidge as she throws her arms around Allura's neck.

"Love is powerful magic in itself," Allura says softly in comfort.

Pidge sniffles. "I-I never told him," she sobs. Love is indeed a powerful tie, but just her side of the thread is not enough to bring him back. "I couldn't. He's  _ mortal _ and I'm-"

"You are Pidge, my dear friend and most brilliant Guardian," Allura replies calmly. "Speak your feelings to him."

Inhaling deeply, Pidge separates herself and gazes back upon Lance's body. It hurts so much to see a normally cheerful and vibrant person so still and... lifeless.

"Lance," she starts, taking one of his hands between her own. "You have been," a deep breath, "the most  _ wonderful _ of neighbors these past years." Pidge pauses, unable to hold back sobs. "You've been so kind and funny and loving to everything I care about in this world, including me. I... I love you," she finally says, breaking back down, tears flowing freely as she sniffs them back. "And I don't want to live without you."

It feels like a weight is lifted off her shoulders as she speaks the words. Guardian duties will be so much lonelier now that he is not there to awe at all the flowers blooming in sync for the first day of spring celebration, or ask a litany of questions about how her magic functions, or have the gall to drag  _ her _ to see the birth of a new calf or the progress of an Ash sapling that he insisted to raise himself from a seed without any magical assistance.

Pidge mourns it all. Perhaps if he loved her back, then the thread that tied their souls together would take part of her to bring him back.

Ethereal green balls of light hang in the air around her and around Lance. Pidge gasps as the physical representation of her quintessence, her very being, slowly descends upon Lance. As each falls upon him, his body glows a bright blue and the welts on his body begin to mend. She did not need to know him for five years to know that it is  _ his _ quintessence, jump started by her own.

Her heart beats quickly at the revelation. He  _ had _ loved her back.

Allura's hand rests gently on her shoulder. "Take good care of him, Pidge. When his true time comes, take him and seek me out. With your quintessence in him, he will make an ideal Guardian of water."

Pidge can scarcely contain the hope that wells up in her chest. Lance will be able to live out his life and then, if he chooses, live on with her, able to water the plants of the Forest and tend to the waters he so loves.

Her thank you is interrupted when Lance gasps, the most musical sound to her ears. Allura's presence disappears in an instant and when he looks her way, catching up with all his missed breaths, Pidge is all he sees.

His eyebrows knit in confusion. "Pidge... why are you crying?" he wonders.

"Because I'm happy," she tells him truthfully - because she is now.

Lance's lips curl up into a pleased smirk and he relaxes. "I thought so. You're always pretty when you're happy."

The rooster crows and Kaltenecker moos nearby. The seedlings below the ground tremble and burst forth all around them in joy and celebration.

There is a path forward for the two of them. No matter what direction their separate roots would grow, they will always find each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://rueitae.tumblr.com/).


End file.
